Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger


Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger FBA is a German historian. She mainly researches the early modern period and has held the chair for early modern history at the University of Münster. Stollberg-Rilinger is one of the leading representatives of research that examines the constitutional history of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of symbolic-ritual forms of communication. Her work on rituals, symbolic communication and ceremonial influenced research on the exercise of power in the pre-modern era.

Career

She studied German language and literature, history and the history of art at the University of Cologne, graduating in 1980 and earning a doctorate in 1985 in mediaeval and modern history, ancient history and German philology. She habilitated at the University of Cologne in 1994. The first professorship she obtained was at the Historical Institute of the University of Cologne, only to follow a call from the University of Münster, where she has held the chair of Early Modern History since 1997. Since 2018, she has been a rector of the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study.
Her focus lies on the political and cultural movements and changes in Europe in the 17th and 18th century.

Political positions – Criticism by the "Jüdische Allgemeine"

In December 2020, Stollberg-Rilinger was one of the initiators of the "Initiative GG 5.3 Open-mindedness" of numerous institutions and persons in the cultural and scientific community. The initiative criticizes a Bundestag resolution of 2019 condemning Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as anti-Semitic and banning government funding for the Israel-hostile movement, and warns against a restriction of the Basic Law constitutionally protected freedom of expression through the "misuse of the accusation of anti-Semitism". The initiators and signatories were accused of ignoring the fact that BDS denied Israel's right to exist.

Awards and honours

*